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Aces Wild: A Heist by Amanda DeWitt
3.5
adventurous emotional lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Jack Shannon's mom runs The Golden Age, one of the top casino and hotels on the LA Strip, and that's not something a person can do while keeping their hands clean. When she's arrested, Jack knows exactly who double crossed her. He just has to prove it. So he calls in help from his online friends, the members of an asexuals-only chat group.

You would think that a book that has "a heist" as the subtitle would focus more on the heist itself. Unfortunately, the heist part of this book is actually rather small, but fortunately, that part isn't all that strong so maybe the book turned out better for having that part be smaller.

Like so many others I was hyped to see an entire group of asexual characters. On the one hand, it's nice that the book doesn't make a big deal about the ace factor; it is just one aspect of the characters like hair color. On the other hand, besides a couple of lines nothing comes of the characters being ace and they might as well have made a private chat because they all supported some super obscure fanfic ship. 
Identifying as ace can mean such a variety of things, having a group of them is practically begging to explore how the characters experience things differently, especially because the book is set in Las Vegas, which isn't exclusively notorious for the sin of gambling. Instead we just get a mention that there's a difference between aromatic and asexual, and some background details to hint that asexuals aren't the same person (Gabe mentioning it took a long time for him to come to terms with his identity, Lucky being younger but knowing already, Georgia mentioning a girlfriend, and Remy being nonbinary).

Overall I found this book to be fairly enjoyable and very briskly paced. Unfortunately, when I look back on the book I have a hard time remembering the fun beneath all the missed opportunities.